


Dog's Life

by ilwin



Category: Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:46:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23547862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilwin/pseuds/ilwin
Summary: The Doctor thinks he is a dog. Now what?
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	Dog's Life

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Laurel on tumblr for beta-read.

Followed closely by the Doctor, Turlough burst into the TARDIS and quickly hit the lever for operating the doors.  
  
“Phew, that was close,“ he breathed a sigh of relief, “I’ve thought they had already caught us, when…“ he looked around for the Doctor and paused.  
  
The Doctor was right behind him, sitting on the floor, looking up at Turlough without a word.  
  
“Doctor? Are you ok?“ Turlough said with surprise, hesitating to believe his own eyes.  
The Doctor grinned widely. “Good boy, Doctor,“ he answered and Turlough gasped.  
  
“ _What?_ “  
  
The Doctor raised his hands and repeated. “Good boy, Doctor.“  
  
Turlough took a step back. “Goodness me,“ he muttered to himself, shocked, when he realized the resemblance. “He’s a dog… He thinks he’s a dog…“  
  
While travelling with the Doctor, there were moments sometimes when Turlough almost wished he was back at Brendon. This was one of those moments.  
  
“Doctor, you should stand up off the floor, it’s… probably cold down there…“ Turlough tried, ignoring obvious facts and trying to convince himself it was just temporary confusion of the Doctor or something like that.  
  
“Good boy, Doctor,“ repeated the Doctor with happy grin and moved closer to Turlough. “Play?“  
  
Turlough felt like beating his head against the wall. “It must have been the hypnotic field… I thought they were just bluffing… But… why did it hit him and not me? Is it so easy to hypnotize a Time Lord?“  
  
Suddenly he realized they were still on the planet and a quick look at the scanner monitor reminded him of importance of putting his priorities in the right order. Horde of local creatures, responsible for the Doctor’s current situation, were surrounding the TARDIS very tightly and obviously trying to break in.  
  
“First things first,“ Turlough said to himself while pressing the buttons in quite a hurry. “Off this dreadful planet.“  
  
The TARDIS jumped off of the planet and Turlough looked at the scanner monitor to see if they were safely floating in the open universe again. He left his eyes on the monitor longer than was necessary, a little bit afraid to face the problem that remained now to be solved.  
  
The problem itself wasn’t about to leave him too long in peace though.

  
A sudden poke at his legs alarmed him and when he turned around, he saw that the Doctor had followed him and was now sitting with his hands raised like a begging dog again. “Play?“  
  
“No, I won’t play with you,“ replied Turlough automatically and turned back to the console. “Hmmm… No… There’s probably no place I know where I could search for some help,“ he said to himself and started to thoughtfully walk around the console room.  
  
The Doctor was following him on all fours.  
  
“Isn’t this just some bad – _really_ bad – joke of yours after all, Doctor?“ Turlough asked hopefully and looked down at the Doctor, who came as close to Turlough’s leg as possible, then sat again and gave Turlough another wide happy smile.  
  
“Master?“  
  
“Where?“ Turlough looked around automatically, but quickly became aware of the situation and slapped his forehead. “Oh, you mean… No, I’m definitely NOT your master and you’re NOT a dog! Come on, Doctor, it’s not funny, be yourself again…“ he begged desperately, but the Doctor just tilted his head a bit to one side. Turlough could almost swear he moved his ears too.  
  
“Oh no,“ Turlough whispered to himself unhappily, “definitely not a joke… Now what?“  
  
He thoughtfully crouched, but spotting that, the Doctor happily jumped up, leaned his hands on Turlough’s chest and licked his face in a very doggy way.  
  
“Ohmygod!“ Turlough spat in shock and pushed the Doctor away of him, “down, you…!“ he couldn't find any suitable way to address him, so he paused, but quickly standing up to prevent another doggish expression from the Doctor.  
  
“Gosh, this is really mad,“ Turlough spoke, wiping his face with the sleeve. “You better go back to yourself soon or…“ There was nothing he could threaten him with though, so he just shrugged and shook his head helplessly.  
  
“Maybe when I repeat to you again and again that you’re Time Lord called the Doctor it will help in the end …“ he noted with no sign of hope in his voice. It was never that easy.  
  
“Play?“ spoke the Doctor and came closer to Turlough, still on all fours. “Ball?“  
  
Turlough rolled his eyes. “No ball, no play. You’re the Doctor, Time Lord, for god’s sake!“ Who likes to play cricket, he added in his head and sighed. With a cricket ball. Hm.  
  
“Play? Ball?“ The Doctor kept repeating stubbornly, looking up at Turlough with a bright, hopeful look in his eyes.  
  
“Stop it,“ murmured Turlough feeling uncomfortable, “you’re not a dog, Doctor…“  
  
The Doctor produced another wide grin, this time also with open mouth and his tongue hanging out. It was quite easy to read _Master’s talking to me. Nice master._ on his face. “Ball?“  
  
Turlough moaned. “NO!“ He shouted, annoyed. “Once and for all – no ball, no play! You’re a Time Lord, not a dog!“ Turlough’s voice was raised in irritation. “Now stop it!“  
  
The Doctor flinched and leaned down his head a bit, shrinking from Turlough's sharp voice, but still looking up at him with puppy dog eyes. _Master‘s angry,_ was the obvious meaning of his face expression.  
  
Turlough hesitated and cleared his throat. “Well… Sorry, I didn’t mean to shout at you, but… This is really mad and I’d like to know what to do to get you back to your normal Time Lord-y self, ok?“  
  
The Doctor straightened up a bit, recognizing “master“ wasn't going to shout at him again, but still not sure what to get out of it.  
  
Turlough helplessly shook his head. “I’m lost here, you know? That’s really not my cup of tea…“  
  
He heaved a sigh. “But… If it really works like hypnosis, it would need _them_ to get you back…“ he suddenly realized and worried looked at the Doctor. “No… please not…“  
  
It can’t be… there are no hypnotic waves that work how they did, so it must have been just something quite similar… Well… that‘s not much help in the question of rectification though… Oh, Doctor, what should I do with you?  
  
The Doctor found out that there was no danger of angry “master“ anymore and returned to his cheerful grin and sitting right next to Turlough’s legs.  
  
“If I could take you back to Gallifrey, they’d surely know what to do…“ he sighed. “If they would like to help _you_ though…“  
  
Turlough looked down and the Doctor made a quiet whining noise, which sounded like he wanted to calm Turlough down a bit.  
  
Turlough shrugged. “Yeah, you’ve got no worries now, I’m sure about it… But you just can’t exist like this forever, you’re not a dog, you’re a Time Lord…“ He felt so helpless and tired like he hadn’t had for a very long time. “I really don’t know what to do…“ he whispered to himself apprehensively, feeling like going to hide somewhere and wait until things got better.

  
Suddenly he experienced a soft touch on his knees and when he looked there, he found out the Doctor gently nestled against his legs in a kind of comforting gesture.  
  
Turlough almost put his hand on the Doctor‘s head to scratch him behind his ears, but stopped himself in time. I really have to do something or I'll to thrown him things to fetch…  
  
“Ball?“ the Doctor spoke hopefully when recognized the friendly look on Turlough’s face.  
  
“No,“ answered Turlough calmly,“ I have no ball to play with.“

  
The Doctor looked exactly like a sad puppy.  
  
“Oh, don’t look at me like this,“ mumbled Turlough diffidently, “it’s not my fault you think you’re a dog now. And I really don’t carry a ball with me all the time…“  
  
“Master,“ said the Doctor, still looking up at Turlough with devoted doggy eyes.  
  
“Stop it,“ Turlough fidgeted embarrassed and took a step back. “Stop it, Doctor. If you could only see yourself now…“ he said automatically and then paused.  
  
“Wait a minute… What if… What if I just show you your image in a mirror…?“  
  
Turlough smiled in sudden hope and stepped forward. “Come on, let’s see if it works…“ he said to the Doctor, who followed him on all fours cheerfully, content that “master“ looked happier now.  
  
They walked out of the console room. The Doctor wanted to hop around Turlough happily as his dog mind told him to do, but it wasn’t quite doable. He kept trying anyway without losing his excitement. “Good boy, Doctor,“ he announced from time to time.  
  
“You’ll totally ruin your trousers if you go on like this,“ Turlough noted, rather amused as hope for solution had appeared.  
  
“Here we are,“ he said a while later, when he stopped in front of the doors, “this is the wardrobe room. If the mirror won’t help…“ he spoke to himself while opening the doors, “well… I’ll have to think out something else probably. Come on,“ Turlough added to the Doctor uselessly since he was following him the whole time with the greatest of pleasure.  
  
“Master? Play?“ he spoke again when they entered the room.  
  
Turlough shook his head. “No,“ he said and led the Doctor to the full-body sized mirror standing by the wall.  
  
“Here.“ He stopped in front of the mirror and the Doctor sat on the floor beside him.  
  
Gosh, this is just ridiculous, thought Turlough when he saw both of them side by side in the reflection.  
  
“See, Doctor? That’s you… Not a dog. Time Lord,“ he said to the Doctor.  
  
He looked at him, but the Doctor was staring up at Turlough and paid no attention to the mirror.  
  
Turlough sighed. “Ok. Forced way,“ he murmured and bent down to the Doctor. He touched his head and gently turned it towards the mirror. “See? Not a dog,“ he said emphatically, “Time Lord.“  
  
He spotted the Doctor's eyes widen in shock in the mirror. “You’re not a dog,“ Turlough repeated gently, “come back, please…“ The Doctor started to shiver strongly and Turlough released him and straightened up. Please, come back…  
  
The Doctor kept staring frightened in the mirror and then whimpered in a low voice.

  
Turlough saw his fear and started to worry. What if this only made it worse? What if he would just stay staring at the mirror forever? Or what if it was too forced way and it would do some damage to his mind?  
  
He nervously shifted his weight from foot to foot. “Come on, Doctor,“ he mumbled, “you can do it. Come back, please…“  
  
Suddenly the Doctor moaned with pain and then collapsed on the floor.  
  
Turlough sprang to his side hastily. “Doctor!“  
  
Goodness me, I killed him, went through his mind instantly, but at a closer look, the Doctor was obviously breathing.  
  
Turlough was relieved. “Doctor?“ he spoke again and the Doctor finally moved a bit and opened his eyes with a quiet groan.  
  
“Oh, my head…“  
  
“Doctor!“ shouted Turlough in relief. “Are you ok? Are you back?“  
  
The Doctor carefully sat up and looked at Turlough, confused, holding his aching head. “I think my head is gonna burst. What do you mean “back“? What happened?“  
  
Turlough took a breath to talk, but then just shook his head. “Don’t ask,“ he murmured.  
  
“Why?“ asked the Doctor, curiosity piqued by Turlough's evasiveness. “I remember we encountered those… people on the planet but then…“ he paused and raised his eyebrows to indicate Turlough should continue.  
  
Turlough cleared his throat. “Well, there was some kind of hypnotic field or something and…“ he hesitated again and looked aside before he quickly finished in a sort of a rush, “it affected you and you thought you were a dog.“  
  
“Oh. Sounds like fun,“ said the Doctor cheerfully.  
  
Turlough looked at him in disbelief. “No. It wasn’t. It was rather embarrassing.“  
  
The Doctor chuckled. “Why?“  
  
Turlough frowned and crossed his arms. “Do you usually run around the TARDIS on all fours demanding to play with a ball?“  
  
The Doctor was obviously trying hard to hold his laughter, partly forgetting his headache for a while. “No. Usually not. But it still sounds like great fun.“ He nodded amused.  
  
Turlough just snorted without a word. What did I even expect? He’s just a mad Time Lord…  
  
“And?“ spoke the Doctor after a while, rubbing his forehead in an unwitting attempt at dispersing the pain.  
  
“And what“?“ Turlough didn’t catch on.  
  
“Did you play with me?“ inquired the Doctor innocently.  
  
Turlough rolled his eyes. “No. Among other things, I have absolutely no idea, where you store balls in the TARDIS.“  
  
“Oh,“ said the Doctor disappointed. “I must have been sad,“ he remarked.  
  
Turlough glanced at him, searching for a sign the Doctor was just making fun of it, but he looked quite serious. “Yes,“ Turlough answered slowly, “you looked like big sad puppy.“  
  
The Doctor sighed and then suddenly grinned and reached into his coat’s pocket. “I almost always have one with me,“ he took out red cricket ball.  
  
Now really, this is quite common by Time Lords? Turlough scowled. “Then you should have remembered it as a dog,“ he snapped back and finally straightened himself up.  
  
The Doctor slowly stood up too, still grinning, amused, while his headache had probably lessened.  
  
“What?“ Turlough asked suspiciously.  
  
“Nothing,“ the Doctor replied, “I was just pondering what _you_ would be like as a dog.“  
  
“I hate you.“


End file.
